


Shots

by mmmdraco



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-18
Updated: 2012-12-18
Packaged: 2017-11-21 11:42:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/597349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mmmdraco/pseuds/mmmdraco
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kuroko needs to work on shooting. Somehow, Kagami and Aomine get drafted to help.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shots

**Author's Note:**

  * For [stillskies](https://archiveofourown.org/users/stillskies/gifts).



"Are you trying to jump up to hug the basket? Turn your shoulders! That'll help block defenders from stealing the ball." Aomine shoved Kuroko into position at the free throw line.

"Put your other shoulder in front. Aren't you right-handed? That's the shoulder you want aiming toward the basket." Kagami twisted Kuroko around.

"Stop having a dominant hand. Pick whatever is best for the situation and just go for it. If you always use the same hand, you get predictable." Aomine leaned down to get close to Kuroko's face.

Kagami pushed Aomine away with the tips of his fingers. "Drop the shoulder that's closer to the basket and lean down just a bit, like this." He demonstrated and Kuroko tried to copy as well as he could. "They'll think you're gonna drive."

"Unless they aren't morons." Aomine palmed a basketball and held it up in front of Kuroko who took it. "Just step backward. Once. And jump."

Kagami growled. "Raise the basketball over your head first and aim your jump. Make sure you snap your wrist!"

Kuroko held the ball up. "Guys, thank you both for helping me actually learn to shoot, but could you at least let me try this fadeaway before arguing about technique?"

Aomine laughed. "You want to learn the wrong things? Go ahead."

"Well, I can just barely make a free throw now."

Kagami raised an eyebrow. "So, why do you want a fadeaway shot?"

Kuroko tilted his head to one side. "Isn't that what comes next in developing an arsenal?"

"You need a jump shot first! The fadeaway is for if you're being blocked by a lot of D. If the other team never even sees you, I don't think you need to worry. And at that height, you're not going to dunk, so start learning how to lay it up."

Aomine grabbed the ball back and spun it on the end of one finger for a moment, his mouth widening in an almost feral grin. He let it drop back into the embrace of his palms, dribbled once, and took one long leap forward and hopped up; turning in the air so that the ball seemed to slide off of his fingertips and over the edge of the rim. If fell through the net gracefully and bounced once before Kagami had it in his hands and he jumped up to let the ball bounce off the backboard and into the hoop a second time. "It's called a lay-in if it doesn't hit the backboard, and a lay-up if it does," Aomine said as he scooped the ball back up and slung it to Kuroko.

Kagami caught the ball with one hand and dribbled up to the net again. He crouched low at the bottom and leapt again, this time switching the ball from one hand to the other and back again before he tipped the ball to circle the rim and fall with a _swoosh_ through the net. "That's a triple clutch. A double clutch is moving the ball one time. It redirects the defender's focus and raises your chances of sinking the shot at close range."

Scooping the ball back up again, Aomine drove it past Kagami. He grinned as he came up just a few centimeters shy of hitting Kuroko with the ball when he pivoted on one foot and turned past him, then shot the ball from a crouch into the air where it sailed high and fell into the basket. "That's a floater. Since you're short, it'll be more use to you than an in-fight manuever. Since no one can interfere with a shot once it's started to fall, the higher you can shoot it? The better."

"None of this is going to matter if he can't sink a shot that isn't straight on!" Kagami caught the ball between his palms and walked it over to Kuroko. "What do you want to learn?"

Kuroko took the ball and walked up closer to the basket. "The lay-up. Most of those moves are just different versions of the lay-up, right?" Both Aomine and Kagami nodded slowly. Kuroko arranged himself at the free-throw line and bent his knees and elbows with the ball resting lightly in his outstretched arms and pushed it through the air. It flew up and over and came down just on the rim of the basket, clanging as it started to bounce off. Almost immediately, there were two hands from different boys overlapped on the sides of the ball and pushing it through the hoop with ease.

Kagami winced when he hit the ground and glared at Aomine. "My hand was there first!"

"How was I supposed to know that you would think to alley-oop?" Aomine looked at his hand. "You broke one of my fingernails."

"What?! Your hand was on top! Look at how red my hand is here from where you slapped it."

"Then you just don't understand the optimum timing for such a thing!"

"I understand that you're being a-" Kagami's words were cut off by a _squeak_ on the other side of the court where Kuroko had moved with the ball and was now standing short corner and lining up a shot. It ricocheted off the rim and onto the backboard and rolled off to the opposite side where Kuroko went running to grab the ball. He pulled up closer this time, though still off to one side, and shot again. This time, the ball circled the rim and fell in. 

Aomine looked toward the ball bin they'd wheeled out on the court earlier. "Want to shoot some threes while he practices?"

Kagami seemed to bristle. "I've gotten better, you know."

"I was counting on that! If that kid can improve, so can you."

Watching as Kuroko's next shot went over the basket entirely, Kagami shook his head. "Do you really think he can stay in basketball if he can't shoot?"

Pausing on his way toward the bin, Aomine smiled. "He loves it. He loves every moment of it. You can see how much fun he's having even though he's practicing on his own and has only made one shot so far. And it's not like he's not spectacular in other regards."

"And he did manage to get us to play nice." Kagami stretched his arms own in front of himself.

Aomine didn't answer. He just pulled over the ball bin and tossed a ball toward Kagami. "Make half of your threes and I'll buy your lunch."

Kagami raised an eyebrow. "You've seen how much I eat, haven't you?"

"Yeah. But I've also seen you shoot threes."

The court echoed with the sound of basketball shoes gripping at the court, balls bouncing and clattering against backboards, and the occasional muttered expletive from Kagami as his shot percentage dropped dangerously below the 50% line.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[Podfic] Shots](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1318300) by [ZoeBug](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZoeBug/pseuds/ZoeBug)




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